Hogwarts Four - The Guild Wars
by NTSDHogwarts4
Summary: Harley has always been in service to nobles, never knowing anything different. Until he steps outside of Divinity's Reach and gets caught up with his friends, Ra, Selena, and Glinda as they fight to protect not only the human kingdom of Kryta but Tyria as a whole from destruction with their special powers and unique heritage. Retelling of the GW2 Human Storyline.


**Disclaimer: ** No one here at NTSD_Hogwarts4 owns Guild Wars, Harry Potter or any songs utilized in the creation of this tale. We only own our twisted little imaginations and thank the Muses for their blessings on our creativity.

**Prologue: The Defense of Shaemoor**

The city of Divinity's Reach was a shining beacon for mankind, the beauty and splendor just barely outweighed the dark and stagnant underbelly that consistently festered outside of the upper city's glow. Harley Hufflepuff wove his way through the cobblestone streets of Dwayna's Low Road, dodging merchants and priests all yammering to be heard.

At 6' 9" the blond stood head and shoulders above many, his honey blond hair pulled back into a ponytail but a stubborn lock of hair consistently remained in his face. His cerulean blue eyes glittered in the weak morning sunlight filtering down through the church steeples and smoke of food carts. A strong jaw, flattering nose and cupid's bow lips with a seemingly-permanent pout made for a distracting image for many that matched perfectly with his strong and broadly muscled form. Although the severe scarring around his left eye, purpled in appearance despite its age, tended to send that attention right back where it came from almost as much as his usual entourage did.

Harley remembered his eleven years on the streets with unsettling clarity before being given a place just on the outskirts of the glittering balls and weighty responsibilities of the nobility of Divinity's Reach. All due to the kindness of Rowena Ravenclaw, Duchess of Ebonhawke. He had earned his place as a member of the Ravensworn: soldiers who were assigned to protect and serve House Ravenclaw, Steward House of Ebonhawke. Harley's current tempered scale armor, specially crafted in shades of muted bronze, cobalt and black was a gift from Grand Duchess of Ebonhawke, a sign that the young man was growing into his responsibilities of bodyguard for his three noble friends and confidants.

Harley's favored sword and shield combination, the perfect balance of offense and defense that would allow him to blend in with his surroundings in higher society and also send any threat running home with their tail between its' legs, identified him to most he passed as a Guardian. A friendly wave and bright, slightly lopsided smile that bordered on charming caught the attention of the Seraph standing vigil by the large double doors leading out into Shaemoor as Harley walked towards them with his steps full of purpose.

"Good morning, blondie! What appears to be in your mind today?" The Seraph officer asked, grey eyes shining at the sight of his life-long acquaintance. Said 'blondie' had long ago made friends with most of those in the Seraph, Ministry Guard and others that patrolled the streets of their city and had been loaned out to them enough times that many considered him friend and would usually say that he was unofficially one of them.

"Not much, Jared," Harley fiddled with his ponytail nervously, a sight that never quite meshed with his large form. For being such a physically-imposing mountain of a man, Harley could be a bit of an emotional mouse.

"You not bringing along your charges? What, that Ravenclaw prettyboy finally cut the apron strings?" Jared's partner, a dark-skinned woman named Eliah, asked, voice slightly amused as she raised an eyebrow over coffee brown eyes at the Ravenclaw valet.

A light pink tinge overcame the Hufflepuff's cheeks, darkening the skin over the bridge of his nose in embarrassment and highlighting the scarring that marred the skin there from where it stretched around his eye. "Just heading out to help, I heard about the centaur attacks in Shaemoor." Of course it had taken him longer than he liked to be able to even head out, since he had had to ask the Grand Duchess Ebonhawke for permission before he could even get into the armor set that he had never been able to wear as it wasn't as nice as the formal armor he would normally be seen in.

Jared and Eliah shared a knowing look before opening up the gates, wishing him luck as he walked out into the veritable battlefield of Shaemoor.

Harley was partially terrified, the feeling like ice deep in the pit of his stomach as he stepped outside of the walls of Divinity's Reach for the first time in a long while. It had been far too long since he had been outside of the city, he just wished it was for a happier reason.

"Well don't dawdle, Harley! Let's go!"

Great. Just what he needed. Pain-in-His-Ass #1. The bright and cheery voice of Glinda Gryffindor coming from just behind his elbow vaulted Harley a few feet into the air in his surprise, doing an abrupt about-face to stare down at one of his three closest friends. Short, brightly-colored Glinda with her shoulder-length, wavy red hair and bright smile. She barely came up to his breastbone and her crimson and gold flowy blouse, mid-thigh skirt and knee-high laced boots gave her the image of a glimmering fire sprite. Considering the fact that she was an elementalist with a proclivity for fire and lightning, the connection made sense.

"Glinda! Dammit to Grenth, what in Kormir's name are you doing here?" Harley asked, glancing around furtively. Wherever Glinda was…

"I sincerely hope you didn't think we were going to allow you to run off willy-nilly without us."

...Yep, there she was. Pain-In-His-Ass #2. Selena Slytherin. Tall and argent with all of the right curves in the right places that her knee-length, sleeveless emerald green day dress and a bolero made of black leather showed off to an attention-grabbing effect when paired with sensibly short ankle boots, long dark hair just nearly black in the depth of green tossed carelessly over one shoulder to brush against her breastbone. Also an Elementalist, she was as different from Glinda as their chosen affinites, as Selena tended towards utilizing Earth or Water magic while Glinda favored Fire and Air.

"Well I can hope," Harley couldn't stop himself from snarking, his hand going down to grasp the pommel of his sword to keep calm. Selena had a tendency towards being able to push every single button that he had available and even some that he wasn't aware existed.

The final point of their little square that made up this rather unorthodox friendship was none other than Ra Ravenclaw, Heir to House Ravenclaw. He wasn't the tallest man, as his height only brought him just above Harley's chin - just a few inches taller than Selena's own 5' 11". Dark hair styled in an artful wing over the left side of his face, perfectly tanned skin from birth and a neatly trimmed goatee framed slightly thin lips under a sharply defined nose. "Really? What kind of friends would we be if we allowed you to do this on your own, Harlequin?"

Aaaand there was that damned_ name_. _HIS_ name that hardly anyone ever used. Harley's face flushed anew, clearing his throat as he tried and failed to not react to Ra's presence. Ra always seemed to radiate a sense of control and ease in everything he did, from magic to manipulating politicians, nothing seemed to be out of Ra Ravenclaw's reach...especially not when he was dressed to impress. Even though his current clothes were less on the side of fashionable than he would normally wear, they were perfectly functional and still made him look like the male personification of Lyssa. A high-necked, cobalt blue jacket that came down to mid-thigh was left open over a white tunic, black travel pants and soft black leather boots that Harley distinctly recalled having cleaned just the day before cut a devastating figure to any who dared to watch the man.

Harley had made it his life's mission as a child to make Ra smile at least once every day and so the boy had done many things in his young life from the idiotic to the extreme to get a smile or a laugh...like a harlequin. It didn't help that it was the very name that he had been given by Ra himself at the tender age of seven when he had been taken into the service of the Ravenclaw family and no one had ever taken the 'nickname' into question except for Harley himself. A Guardian wasn't a harlequin; to him, that was what defined a mesmer above all else: illusion, trickery and misdirection. In short….Ra.

As the oldest of the group standing in this huddled square, one would think that Harley had at least some ability to make the other three turn their happy butts back around and march into the city proper...but they would be wrong and the silent gods were somewhere over the universe properly laughing themselves sick at that presumption. While Harley was indeed the eldest, Ra was a mere four months behind him and Glinda a two months behind that. Surprising to all, Selena was the youngest of the group and still at the tender age of twenty compared to their twenty-one, twenty-two in Harley's case, although that was set to change in the next three months.

Thankfully, Harley's answer to his friend was as quick as ever. "The kind that aren't trying to get me flogged. Do ANY of you have permission to be out here? Actually, scratch that, I know you don't. Go home. It isn't sa-"

Unfortunately, Glinda seemed intent on not listening and merely conjured her staff from fire and lightning before charging forward with a battlecry and an arc of fire blazing from her dainty fingers...

...

...nope. Not listening to him at all as Ra and Selena both made their way after their shorter friend, drawing their own weapons as they went with a simple flex of power. One in a rumbling arc of fragrant earth, the other a twisting maelstrom of blue butterflies and black raven feathers.

Trailing after them with his heart in his throat, Harley kept his eyes peeled for anything that could harm his charges. His foray out into helping the Shaemoor Garrison had suddenly become a lot more complicated. Yet he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay angry at them for long, he never could. Probably why he was considered the 'nice' one. Protecting others and harming those who hurt the innocent brought a sparkle to Selena's eyes that made her downright breathtaking to watch as she spun the very air to her whim. Glinda was a blazing whirlwind of activity, ushering centaurs away from injured townspeople. Ra wove distortion magic and illusion into a maelstrom of confusion that had the centaurs running after their own tails, usually right into the path of the magic being thrown around by Glinda and Selena.

Harley honestly felt a little lacklustre against the backdrop of his friends but the Guardian did not see himself the same way outsiders could as they all set to work. Aglow with a thin, glittering amber sheen of protective light spreading out around him, muscles bulging under the metal and leather that he wore. His warm and friendly demeanor overshadowed by a battlelust that burned through him, screaming to protect those who could not fight for themselves as a swing of his sword felled a charging centaur before pivoting on one foot to bring his shield up, using the girth and weight of the metal-bound wood to redirect another attacker onto the sharpened edge of his blade.

The pale-haired Seraph Corporal, more than slightly stunned at the three who stood out like gems in a coal mine, watched as they made their way in the direction of the Seraph in charge of the soldiers that were milling around like startled ants. His gauntlet-covered hand landed on Harley's bicep, pausing the blond's procession after his friends.

"Hey, Harley, I was wondering if you wanted to, I don't know, talk over drinks after this is all over?" Sam's voice was practically trembling with nerves, trying to keep contact with those bright blue orbs that seemed to burn into his blood and bottom out his stomach every time they connected with his own more common hazel.

"Uh, w-"

"Come, Harlequin, don't dawdle!" Ra Ravenclaw hardly needed to raise his voice to be heard over the clamor and clang of battle, already standing with Sergeant Walters, who was sending them to the Shaemoor Garrison to assist the Captain, as she had no extra men to spare from the soldiers protecting the village.

Harley could barely resist rolling his eyes, shaking his head as a bemused smile crossed his mouth while swallowing his original retort. "Coming, Ra! Sorry, Sam, we'll talk later, okay?" That slightly lopsided grin turned Sam's knees to mush and he had to use every ounce of Seraph training to keep himself upright before he nodded mutely.

"Y-Yea, sure…good luck!"

Sam's reply was barely heard as Harley ran after his friends faster than a man his size should have any right to while wearing full armor, skidding to a stop next to the trio of nobles.

Their friendship was a study in contrasts from an outsider's perspective. Three nobles of great magical power and a highborn-associated 'gutter rat' (although the last person to call him that within hearing range of the other three was still considered missing) with brute strength and more street smarts than actual brains to those who didn't know him. Green and silver, red and gold, blue and bronze...each with different crests sewn into their clothing, although the valet with his gold, blue and bronze armor was emblazoned with the Ravenclaw family crest on his breastplate.

Harley pulled his mind out of the contemplation of others and concentrated on his friends...more specifically the conversation between Glinda and Selena.

"So did he ever actually apologize for being a douchebag?" The slightly crass words from beautifully elegant Selena Slytherin would have shocked anyone else, but that just told Harley how extraordinarily hacked off she was and Harley was fairly certain he knew just which subject had her so out of sorts at the moment.

Glinda had been courted by Logan Thackeray, now Captain, throughout their time in Seraph training until Logan had been consigned into direct service of the Queen and found himself in a relationship with her, ending his courtship with Glinda rather abruptly before the three of them had gained access to the responsibility of their titles. This was an unforgivable slight in the upper echelons of Krytan society, as the man had not given formal notice of the ending of his intent to court Glinda, nor had he ever paid reparations for the stain on Glinda's reputation in her social circles for having a failed courtship to her name.

The redhead shook her head, slightly curled hair swinging against her cheeks. "No, no he still has not and we are not talking about it."

Ra winced in commiseration for his friend, mentally wondering how long it would take for him to kill the man and hide the body as well as how quickly they could get away with it. "Well that's rather obtuse of him. But things could prove to get very awkward..." Very fast...Logan had a spectacularly high chance of becoming barbeque via friendly fire.

A soft laugh escaped from Harley as he sheathed his sword, the practiced motion of hooking his shield on his back as smooth as silk. "Hey Glinda, maybe we'll get lucky and some centaur will give him a good dose of cognitive recalibration." It would serve the indecisive bastard right, that was for shit damn sure.

"Or just killed him." Selena threw in her two cents, hands clasped behind her back, focusing most of her attention on the flash of gunfire and the shouts of Tamini archers further ahead of them.

"Selena!" Admonishment and slight shock colored Harley's voice, even if the other two honestly didn't think it was that bad of a suggestion. Harley tightened his ponytail with a sigh, raising an admonishing eyebrow towards Selena. "If he dies, my already-short list of drinking buddies whittles down to Quinn and we both know how Glinda and Ra feel about him being in my company. If you're going to try and kill him, maybe you could do me a favor and 'accidentally miss' so he's just...incapacitated."

Not a chance in the Mists that Selena Slytherin of all people would ever miss, but still...he could hope. "I'm just saying. He's being a douchebag and Glinda can do, and deserves, far better than that. I am merely looking out for her best interests." A flick of nimble fingers slid loose strands of green-black hair back over her shoulder, walking as if she was still inside her family's home in Rurikton, traversing marble walkways instead of a rough dirt path leading up to a wooden drawbridge.

"Oh-ho! It's Harley!" A Seraph crowed, grinning widely as he held up a hand to high-five the blond Guardian. "Dragging your minders with you, blondie boy?"

"Shove it, Darrow. They followed me out of the city because they're trying to get me killed," he muttered, turning his back to the closed gate after begrudgingly returning the high-five to grasp his sword and shield with the incoming sound of hooves on hard-packed earth giving way to wood.

Ra and Glinda could not hold back the urge to snicker, pulling their own weapons out in unison with Selena.

"We are here as his chaperones..." Glinda began, grinning, flipping a little further away like a nimble sprite as she rained down elemental fire on the few centaurs still on the bridge.

"...because our little Harlequin can't go anywhere without adult supervision." Ra finished, prompting them all into laughter outside of Harley himself.

Bringing down the pommel of his sword like a battering ram against the horned head of a centaur that had somehow managed to avoid the rain of fire, lightning and distortion magic, a pout graced his lips as the doors opened for them to enter the Garrison after the incoming onslaught was considered abated. "I hate you all."

"Lies and slander, dearest Harley. Lies. And. Slander." Ra couldn't help but smile at the blond, the very same smile that never failed to turn Harley into a pile of mush and disconnected his brain from everything but necessary functions for survival. He swore that Ra did it on purpose, every _bloody_ time.

"Lies and slander _my shield_, damn prettybird." Harley shook his sword sharply to loosen some blood off of it, refusing to look at his friends due to his reddened face at the sound of Ra's usual reply to being called 'prettybird' (a quaint imitation of a cooing pigeon) rang in his ears.

Selena let out a faux gasp, a gloved hand coming up to cover her mouth as her eyes glimmered with unholy, nay _sadistic_, glee. "Why _Harley_, you are looking a bit pink and flustered, dear. Are you okay?"

"He's just lovestruck, poor boy." Glinda grinned, reaching up her own red-gloved finger to poke and prod at Harley's flushed cheek.

"The hatred is real, I assure you." A gauntlet-covered hand came up to swat her irritating little fingers away, side-stepping the redhead to keep his face safe from her overzealous personality.

"Oh look, now that pink is a deep red! Oooh, can we make him turn purple? I wonder if we can turn him purple, Selena!"

"Harley!" Logan Thackeray bellowed across the yard, "Get your blond ass over here and help us!"

"...aaand there's Captain Douchebag." Selena drawled, fingers curling tighter around the length of her staff as if just holding it could electrocute the Seraph Captain. Even Glinda, ever-so sweet and ever-smiling, seemed to be forcing said smile to stay on her face, a now-glacial temperature to her gaze as she glanced at her former flame.

"Coming, Captain!" Harley answered, scuttling away from his friends (or tormentors, he never knew which to really define them as on a regular basis) to answer his friend's call. Part of him had always felt bad for remaining friends with Logan after he had broken Glinda's heart but, well… it wasn't like he could go drinking in town with Ra or the girls.

Of course his scampering became another source of laughter for the three he left behind, Ra most of all.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen him move so fast… except at dinner time," Ra chuckled as they followed behind their 'guard dog' at a much more sedate pace even as many of the Seraph and Harley took care of the Tamini Chieftain before it turned tail and ran back towards the nearby hill with Harley closing in on the damned horse-lord.

A burst of yellow-tinted earth magic almost blew him off of his feet and he could just barely hear Glinda's deadpanned, "Oh look, Harley broke it."

"Broke WHAT!?" Harley snapped, ears still ringing like a gong from the chunk of rock that clonked him on the head, shrapnel still flying around them every which way through the harsh winds of elemental magic disturbing the earth. "No, nevermind. I don't want to know."

"By all six gods, what is that thing?" cried a terrified Seraph from not far behind them, one Harley didn't recognize but probably wouldn't be one long enough for it to be worth learning her name. "It's huge!"

"THAT, soldier," shouted Logan over the noise of the wind whipping about, as two large constructs vaguely in the shape of hands worked their way up out of the ground, building up a heavy, thick beam of magical energy rising from the earth and up into the sky, "is a threat. We're gonna take it down. FORWARD!"

Behind him, Harley heard Selena whine, "Do we _have_ to?" He smiled to himself, imagining her pouting look that would not phase the captain one bit, if he even noticed it.

Logan gestured furiously for the Seraph to form up on him and the other half on Harley, attacking both of the elemental hands sticking out of the earth with everything they had, trying to bring the constructs down before anything else could try to come up with it.

Harley whispered a prayer to Kormir for strength before stabbing his blade down in a final blow against one of the elemental hands that almost sent him to his knees with magical backlash, the length and breadth of his shield coming up to protect himself and the others almost as much as his own frame as he heard Logan shouting something unintelligible at them.

He could barely hear Logan's words through the harsh whistle of wind and rock battering against his summoned barrier. He drew his sword and charged in, avoiding debris and magic as he made his way to the left arm. All of a sudden, Harley felt a twinge of magic starting at his navel and spread around him. The blue-white streams that surrounded him were as familiar to him as his own: Ra's magic at work. Harley looked back, seeing Ra near a tree, staff in hand, face set and focused. The Ravenclaw Heir caught the blonde's gaze and nodded at his Sworn Shield without cracking a smile. Harley sent his not-so-secret crush a small smile in thanks. As he watched, several lesser earth elementals spawned around the smaller man. Harley almost ran to help him, but before he could, however, Ra's staff dissolved into hundreds of small blue-white butterflies of Mesmer magic only to reforge into a schiavona and buckler shield that the dark-haired Ravenclaw used with no small amount of skill against the earthen constructs.

There was something magical, hypnotic even, about watching Ra fight. Harley had never been able to master the elegant sweeps and strikes, parries and lunges, the dance-like footwork that Ra was a natural at. Each movement was carefully calculated and timed, nothing done in excess. Harley felt himself flush as he watched the young Ravenclaw dance lithely around his foes, slowly picking them off.

The dazed look he knew must have planted on his face quickly morphed into one of abject horror when he saw Ra turn in his direction and bodily throw his sword, as if aiming to kill the distracted Hufflepuff. Harley raised his shield, ready to shout profanities at his charge, only for the blade to soar past him and he found his gaze following it before a sharply cut-off, inhuman scream made him turn. The sword had embedded itself in an elemental that been in a perfect position to clobber Harley and the Seraph next to him, crumbling to pieces . Ra vanished and reappeared beside Harley in a burst of ghostly butterflies and raven feathers, pulling his sword out of the pile of disarticulated elemental with almost disgusting ease. "Do pay attention, Harley," Ra said, breathlessly, a smug smile on his sweaty face. "Isn't it YOUR job to protect ME, not the other way around?"

"Oh, haha," Harley retorted as scathingly as he was able, while Ra sniggered in sheer adrenaline-induced amusement. "Remind me to kick your ass in the training room after this. _Throwing_ a sword? Seriously, what empty-headed ninny taught you it was a good idea to do that?"

Before Ra could retort back, a sudden scream of, "I win!" from behind them cut off the momentary banter, quickly followed by a whoop of glee. Turning in unison towards the source of the sound, they watched in conjoined horror as Glinda held both arms above her head in triumph with her back turned to the summoned constructs still glowing with their sickly yellow power.

The mass of broken wood, swirling earth and screaming wind continued to shift and twirl above their heads like some demented twister before it slowly began to droop, losing speed as if whatever had been holding it in place had been disrupted. The magic continued to hum, growing louder in their ears to drown out Logan's warning even as Harley and Ra bolted forward to try and drag Glinda away from the dropping debris.

"Glinda! Get out of there, it's not dead yet!" The warning came a few mere moments before the power went deathly silent, everything in the immediate area surrounding the diminutive redhead freezing in place as if someone had placed their lives on hold. Logan's warning reached Ra and Harley's ears as if through a thick cloud, echoing and unclear while their feet carried them through the twisted wreckage of the training fields, intent on reaching their friend even as they realized that it was not going to be in time. Ra's magic could not stretch that far yet for his Blink spell and Harley's Shadowstep wouldn't allow him to pull her away in time.

Sheer horror crossed Ra's face as Harley bolted ahead of him with a blast of Guardian magic to place himself at the base of the mound of cracked earth, the sting of debris-filled wind in his eyes forcing him to pause as Logan's words finally registered in their brains. "Brace yourselves, I think it's gonna explode!" The next thing Harley could see was sheer darkness and pain racketed through his body as he did his best to reach Glinda's smaller form with his own while his protective shield flickered and failed against the sudden downpour of rock, earth and broken bits of wooden constructs that had been floating above their heads.

"Harley, Harley, get up! Are you okay?"

Harley's eyes fluttered open, and his hand flew to his head at the pain resounding behind his eyes became almost too much to bear. "Ow…" Soft cursing in a language that Logan didn't understand but would probably have had the prudish brunette turning a shade of red that'd make an apple proud left the blond as he lay there in the dirt, caked in streaks of dirt and blood from being dug out of the pile of debris that had tried to become his grave.

Logan Thackeray's face broke into a look of relief, offering his hand to Harley and pulling the twenty-two-year-old blonde on his own two feet. "Man, I was so worried about you. I was fearing the worst when that damned thing came down on you both…"

Harley tried to grin, but winced, as he still was sore all over. Grenth be damned, how could it hurt just to smile? "I'm tougher than I look."

Logan chuckled, shaking his head. "Clearly." He had never been so scared in his life as he was upon having to dig through all of that rubble, hands still a mess from the ardent shoveling of debris, of seeing that mud-caked golden hair and bloodied armor. The smile dropped and Logan's face took on the more serious mien of 'Captain' Thackeray. "We are having trouble finding your friends in the debris. Selena is okay, she's been helping get some people to the healing tents that are being set up but we can't find Ra or Gli-"

Harley's face became quite panicked. Headache forgotten, soreness and fatigue left on the ground, he staggered/ran as best he could to the crater and debris he had been pulled from to join the search. Ra hadn't been too far from the main area of the blast when Harley had vaulted forward to defend Glinda so he had to assume that the dark-haired menace couldn't have gotten too far. He backtracked to the now-broken tree near which Ra had been fighting the elementals, seeing alarming rivets in the dirt and broken bits of farmhouse. As he drew nearer to the site of piled earth and rocks, the panic became dread. He recognized that clothe. "Oh gods, no!"

Harley fell to his knees in the dirt, using his gauntlets and bracers to push away as much dirt as he could until a head of familiar black hair became visible, giving him a better idea of where to dig. A few more handfuls of dirt and rocks allowed him to grasp the cloth of Ra's jacket, tugging him up out of the dirt with no small amount of difficulty, even for one of Harley's strength. "Come on, wake up. Wake up, damn you!"

The usually perfect hair was clumped with dirt and debris, bits of wood having scratched at smooth skin that was now littered with cuts and streaks of drying blood. It was no good. Ra was… was…

Harley cradled the Ravenclaw heir close to his chest, the chill of the body in his arms sending off warning bells in his subconscious and felt tears gathering behind his eyes, his heart aching in his chest like someone was squeezing the life out of it. "Please Ra," he whispered, "Please don't do this."

"What the hell are you crying about?" The familiar voice didn't break through the disbelief clouding the Guardian's mind, their tone partially concerned but mostly bemused.

"What do you think?" The Guardian managed to get out, choking on his tears. Why couldn't this guy just leave him alone? Didn't they realize he was a dead man walking? "I'm so dead for this!"

The man behind him let out a long exasperated sigh, and said, in a tired, aggravated tone, "Look at me, you daft, delirious dumbass."

Harley struggled to pull himself together before turning to do as he was told, partially of the mind to tear the interloper a new asshole before taking in the youth in front of him with a more-than-slightly short-circuited level of brain function. His eyes widened, jaw dropping as he slowly got to his feet, his knees shaking with the form that had been in his arms laid out in the dirt by his clay-encrusted boots. "But.. how-"

Ra Ravenclaw smirked and rolled his eyes, leaning back against the broken remains of the tree behind him, completely unscathed and in perfect health with his arms crossed over his chest. "Always the tone of surprise. Honestly, do you really think me dumb enough to die that easily?"

Harley struggled to wrap his head around it. "But-" He gestured back at the Ra on the ground, clearly dead, and it _shattered_, dissolving into the familiar blue-white butterflies and raven feathers which faded from existence with a shimmer of mesmer magic, leaving no trace of the corpse. Harley's hand slowly dropped to his side. He looked back at Ra, who was trying not to laugh. "It was an illusion."

Ra's smile faded and a look of incredulity crept onto his noble, far-too-perfect features. "Wow, Harlequin, you _are_ unobeservant. How could you not see or expect that from me, Harley, I only do that- hey!"

Harley wrapped his arms around the slighter youth's middle and lifted him off the ground bodily, hugging him and spinning in place a couple times before setting him down, Ra's gloved hands on Harley's muddied breastplate to keep himself upright from the sudden spinning. "Ra, thank Dwayna! I was so scared, I was about to… to…"

He paused, a flush creeping onto his face as he noticed their sudden proximity, their noses practically touching as Ra's feet finally made solid contact with the dirt again. He'd always wanted to have Ra in his arms like this, their faces this close or closer…then he heard the sniggers and whispering of the soldiers around him and Ra before the catcalls and wolf whistles began, along with the shout of, "Oh, just kiss him already, Harley!" Damn stupid busybodies had to ruin the moment!

Ra's slightly flattered and flustered face turned pale and he shoved Harley away, looking disgusted and disconcerted at the Seraph's behavior. The Ravenclaw tossed his head aside, making his long bangs dance in the still air, before he turned and stalked away, shoving a few snickering soldiers aside. Harley watched him go, sadness and regret coloring his eyes as the handsome nobleman sat down by the river, an ice cold look in his eyes as if he were attempting to freeze said river in the moat as he watched it go by...as if it held the answers to the universe.

Harley was thankfully dragged out of his darker thoughts by the sudden slap of Logan's hand down on his shoulder, the brunette Captain's eyes scouring the battlefield frantically. "Harley, you haven't seen Glinda yet, have you? We still can't find her."

Well _that_ tore away any remaining vestiges of fatigue in Harley's blood! The blond ripped himself away from his friend and threw himself in with the Seraph digging out piles of displaced earth and splintered wood. If he couldn't find that damned pixie...no, he didn't even want to think about it. Kormir be praised that Selena was safe back at the tents and Ra was still pouting over by the river.

A clatter of crystal focus and softwood hit Harley's hand, bringing stark relief to the image of Glinda's staff. Gauntlet-covered hands cared not for the dirt caking into his armor as he dragged rocks and debris off of the atrocity that almost certainly was suffocating his friend. A glimpse of red and gold fabric almost gave him a heart attack as he began the task of dragging his friend out of the bloodied earth by her shoulders, Harley felt his heart disappear somewhere down into the vicinity of his stomach.

She was bruised and pale, bloodied and tattered. Her beautiful, bouncy red hair was caked to her cheeks with sweat and blood and he could see blood leaking sluggishly down onto his arms as he finished pulling her to safety, cradling the petite Gryffindor heiress like a child in his arms. "Glinda! Glinda, wake up!" The slight shaking of his arms didn't wake her, nor did his voice. He could tell she was still breathing and her heart was beating at the pulse point at her throat but it felt weak against his fingers after he tore his dirt-caked gauntlets off. "LOGAN!" Harley's bellow caught the attention of the entire yard before the Guardian was on his feet, and making his way towards his brunette friend. "She's alive but she's weak, get her to the healing tents, now!"

The sudden sound of a body hitting the grass of the garrison yard made Harley turn around, inwardly cursing the entire situation and day to Grenth and back again, taking in the sight of Ra's cobalt blue and bronze form crumpled on the ground near the moat where he had obviously decided to stop pouting. Great. Of course he would have overdone it, stupid bloody mesmer. Probably kept himself on his feet by sheer bloodymindedness. Sighing, the blond gently deposited Glinda into Logan's arms. "Carry her there as quickly as you can, she needs immediate help. I've got this moron."

Logan nodded and turned on his heel, rushing back to the village of Shaemoor and the impromptu healing tents that had been erected as quickly as he could with such precious cargo in his arms.

Harley lifted Ra into his arms bridal-style, unable to think of how else to carry the young Ravenclaw lord without embarrassing him further. The warm weight of his crush in his arms, the soft velvet black of his hair pillowed against his breastplate, was something he had learned to ignore a long time ago and thankfully he managed to get them both to the blue and gold-dressed tents without issue.

The fussy healers milled around the tents, the smell of herbs and healing ointments heavy on the air as Harley followed direction from one of the dark-haired priests and laid out the dark-haired younger man onto a cot to be healed. Turning to question one of the Priests of Dwayna on the status of Glinda, he was more than slightly irritated to be ushered to a cot of his own.

"I'm fine, I don't-" His protests fell on deaf ears when the movement and ushering pulled at what was more than likely bruised ribs before he was urged to sit on the edge of the cot next to Ra's own, Glinda visible on his other side as two blue-garbed priests flitted around her with their hands glowing in the aura of healing magic and another wiping at her pain-pinched face with a warm rag.

The dark-haired Priestess, he believed her name was Amelia, began the process of removing the breastplate of his armor to reveal the sleeveless black turtleneck underneath. Without the metal and leather in the way, Amelia went to work on weaving healing magic around his chest, humming in thought as she watched the random colored spots of magic appearing before her eyes to indicate his areas of injury. "You might as well make yourself comfortable, Harley, this could take a while. You really have done yourself a mischief…" As if she could see Harley opening his mouth to once again state that he was fine, Amelia's brown eyes stared him down from her place kneeling at his side on the grassy earth. "You are not fine, Harlequin Hufflepuff and you will report to your Master after I say you can. Considering who the four of you are, Seraph Corporal Beirne has already been sent up into the city to inform Lord Ravenclaw as to where you all will be remaining until you are fully healed." Standing from her place in the grass with no care to the dirt smudging her cobalt blue work dress, the dark-haired Priestess grabbed a potion from one of the passing attendants carrying a tray of potions, bandages and other healing miscellany before popping off the wax-sealed top and handing it to the obstinate blond. "Drink. This will put you to sleep, Harley. The other three are asleep as well, to recover from magical exhaustion, random injuries...you can't take care of them if you're hurting as well."

Muttering unfavorable things under his breath about manipulative healers, ignoring the knowing smirk on Amelia's beautifully tanned face framed by her chin-length bobbed black hair, the blond downed the potion with the grimace of a man who had taken such concoctions on a regular basis. Considering one of his nearest and dearest was the youngest Potions Mistress in Kryta, that was an easily believable statement.

"Rest, Harley…" Tanned hands guided him by the shoulders to lie back on the bed, intent on having him rest. "Your charges are safe. Take care of yourself for a moment...Sleep." Amelia watched as his eyes began to flutter shut, falling under the influence of the potion and into a deep, healing sleep. Maybe now the blond could actually be healed.

It was going to be a long day for the Village of Shaemoor...thankfully those four misfits had kept it from being a black day. Only the Gods knew what tomorrow would bring.


End file.
